• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.95-112
• /
• 2012

In order to analyze the experimental hysteretic behavior of the in-plane loaded reinforced grouted multi-ribbed aerated concrete blocks masonry walls (RGMACBMW), we have carried out the pseudo static testing on the six specimens of RGMACBMW. Based on the test results and shear failure characteristics, the shear force hysteretic curves and displacement envelope curves of the models were obtained and discussed. On the basis of the hysteretic curves a general skeleton curve of the shear force and displacement was formed. The restoring model was adopted to analyze the seismic behavior and earthquake response of RGMACBMW. The deformation capacity of the specimens was discussed, and the formulas for calculating the lateral stiffness of the walls at different loading stages were proposed as well. The average lateral displacement ductility factor of RGMACBMW calculated based on the test results was 3.16. This value illustrates that if the walls are appropriately designed, it can fully meet the seismic requirement of the structures. The quadri-linear restoring models of the walls degradation by the test results accurately reflect the hysteretic behaviors and skeleton curves of the masonry walls. The restoring model can be applied to the RGMACBMW structure in earthquake response analysis.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.323-331
• /
• 2020

Pile foundation is widely used for railway bridges in loess throughout northwestern China. Modeling of the loess-pile interaction is an essential part for seismic analysis of bridge with pile foundation at seismically active regions. A quasi-static test is carried out to investigate the hysteretic behaviors of pile foundation in collapsible loess. The failure characteristics of the bridge pile-loess system under the cyclic lateral loading are summarized. From the test results, the energy dissipation, stiffness degradation and ductility of the pile foundation in loess are analyzed. Therefore, a bilinear model with stiffness degradation is recommended for the nonlinearity of the bridge pier-pile-loess system. It can be found that the stiffness of the bridge pier-pile-loess system decreases quickly in the initial stage, and then becomes more slowly with the increase of the displacement ductility. The equivalent viscous damping ratio is defined as the ratio of the dissipated energy in one cycle of hysteresis curves and increases with the lateral displacement.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.139-152
• /
• 2022

Steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) L-shaped column is the vertical load-bearing member with high spatial adaptability. The seismic behavior of SRC L-shaped column is complex because of their irregular cross sections. In this study, the hysteretic performance of six steel truss reinforced concrete L-shaped columns specimens under the combined loading of compression, bending, shear, and torsion was tested. There were two parameters, i.e., the moment ratio of torsion to bending (γ) and the aspect ratio (column length-to-depth ratio (φ)). The failure process, torsion-displacement hysteresis curves, and bending-displacement hysteresis curves of specimens were obtained, and the failure patterns, hysteresis curves, rigidity degradation, ductility, and energy dissipation were analyzed. The experimental research indicates that the failure mode of the specimen changes from bending failure to bending-shear failure and finally bending-torsion failure with the increase of γ. The torsion-displacement hysteresis curves were pinched in the middle, formed a slip platform, and the phenomenon of "load drop" occurred after the peak load. The bending-displacement hysteresis curves were plump, which shows that the bending capacity of the specimen is better than torsion capacity. The results show that the steel truss reinforced concrete L-shaped columns have good collapse resistance, and the ultimate interstory drift ratio more than that of the Chinese Code of Seismic Design of Building (GB50011-2014), which is sufficient. The average value of displacement ductility coefficient is larger than rotation angle ductility coefficient, indicating that the specimen has a better bending deformation resistance. The specimen that has a more regular section with a small φ has better potential to bear bending moment and torsion evenly and consume more energy under a combined action.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.739-756
• /
• 2015

This paper presents investigations on the hysteretic behavior of concrete-filled circular tubular (CFCT) T-joints subjected to axial cyclic loading at brace end. In the experimental study, four specimens are fabricated and tested. The chord members of the tested specimens are filled with concrete along their full length and the braces are hollow section. Failure modes and load-displacement hysteretic curves of all the specimens obtained from experimental tests are given and discussed. Some indicators, in terms of stiffness deterioration, strength deterioration, ductility and energy dissipation, are analyzed to assess the seismic performance of CFCT joints. Test results indicate that the failures are primarily caused by crack cutting through the chord wall, convex deformation on the chord surface near brace/chord intersection and crushing of the core concrete. Hysteretic curves of all the specimens are plump, and no obvious pinching phenomenon is found. The energy dissipation result shows that the inelastic deformation is the main energy dissipation mechanism. It is also found from experimental results that the CFCT joints show clear and steady stiffness deterioration with the increase of displacement after yielding. However, all the specimens do not perform significant strength deterioration before failure. The effect of joint geometric parameters ${\beta}$ and ${\gamma}$ of the four specimens on hysteretic performance is also discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.70 no.3
• /
• pp.289-301
• /
• 2019

Hysteretic energy is defined as energy dissipated through inelastic deformations during a ground motion by the system. It includes frequency content and duration of ground motion as two remarkable parameters, while these characteristics are not seen in displacement spectrum. Since maximum displacement individually cannot be the appropriate criterion for damage assessment, hysteretic energy has been evaluated in this research as a more comprehensive seismic demand parameter. An innovative methodology has been proposed to establish a new equivalent linear model to estimate hysteretic energy spectrum for bilinear SDOF models under two different sets of earthquake excitations. Error minimization has been defined in the space of equivalent linearization concept, which resulted in equivalent damping and equivalent period as representative parameters of the linear model. Nonlinear regression analysis was carried out for predicting these equivalent parameter as a function of ductility. The results also indicate differences between seismic demand characteristics of far-field and near-field ground motions, which are not identified by most of previous equations presented for predicting seismic energy. The main advantage of the proposed model is its independency on parameters related to earthquake and response characteristics, which has led to more efficiency as well as simplicity. The capability of providing a practical energy based seismic performance evaluation is another outstanding feature of the proposed model.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.41-54
• /
• 2019

Reinforced Concrete (RC) shear walls are widely used in Nuclear power plants as effective lateral force resisting elements of the structure and these may experience nonlinear behavior for higher earthquake demand. Short shear walls of aspect ratio less than 1.5 generally experience combined shear flexure interaction. This paper presents the results of the displacement-controlled experiments performed on six RC short shear walls with varying aspect ratios (1, 1.25 and 1.5) for monotonic and reversed quasi-static cyclic loading. Simulation of the shear walls is then carried out by Finite element modeling and also by macro modeling considering the coupled shear and flexure behaviour. The shear response is estimated by softened truss theory using the concrete model given by Vecchio and Collins (1994) with a modification in softening part of the model and flexure response is estimated using moment curvature relationship. The accuracy of modeling is validated by comparing the simulated response with experimental one. Moreover, based on the experimental work a multi-linear hysteretic model is proposed for short shear walls. Finally ultimate load, drift, ductility, stiffness reduction and failure pattern of the shear walls are studied in details and hysteretic energy dissipation along with damage index are evaluated.

• KCI Concrete Journal
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 2001

Pseudo dynamic test for seven circular RC bridge piers has been carried out to investigate their seismic performance subjected to expected artificial earthquake motions. The objective of this experimental study is to investigate the hysteretic behavior of reinforced concrete bridge piers, which have been widely used for railway and urban transportation facilities. Important test parameters are confinement steel ratio, and input ground motion. The seismic behavior of circular RC bridge piers under artificial ground motions has been evaluated through displacement ductility, cumulative energy input, and dissipation capacity. It can be concluded that RC bridge piers designed in a limited ductile behavior provision of Eurocode 8 have been determined to show good seismic performance even under moderate artificial earthquakes.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2024

This paper describes the seismic performance evaluation of reinforced concrete bridge columns under constant and varying axial forces. For this purpose, nine identical circular reinforced concrete columns were designed seismically by KIBSE (2021) and KCI (2021). A comparison of lateral forces with theoretical strength shows that the safety factor for columns under varying axial forces is less marginal than those under constant axial forces. In addition, columns under varying axial forces exhibit significant fluctuations in the hysteretic response due to continuously varying axial forces. This is particularly prominent when many varying axial force cycles within a specific lateral loading cycle increase. Moreover, the displacement ductility of columns under varying axial forces does not meet the code-specified required ductility in the range of varying axial forces. All varying axial forces affect columns' strength, stiffness, and displacement ductility. Therefore, axial force variation needs to be considered in the lateral strength evaluation of reinforced concrete bridge columns.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.795-812
• /
• 2011

Estimation of damage probability of buildings under a future earthquake is an essential issue to ensure the seismic reliability. Fragility curves are useful tools for showing the probability of structural damage due to earthquakes as a function of ground motion indices. The purpose of this study is to compare the damage probability of R/C buildings with low and high level of strength and ductility through fragility analysis. Two different types of sample buildings have been considered which represent the building types mentioned above. The first one was designed according to TEC-2007 and the latter was designed according to TEC-1975. The pushover curves of sample buildings were obtained via pushover analyses. Using 60 ground motion records, nonlinear time-history analyses of equivalent single degree of freedom systems were performed using bilinear hysteretic model and peak-oriented hysteretic model with stiffness - strength deterioration for each scaled elastic spectral displacement. The damage measure is maximum inter-story drift ratio and each performance level considered in this study has an assumed limit value of damage measure. Discrete damage probabilities were calculated using statistical methods for each considered performance level and elastic spectral displacement. Consequently, continuous fragility curves have been constructed based on the lognormal distribution assumption. Furthermore, the effect of hysteresis model parameters on the damage probability is investigated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.461-473
• /
• 2022

Energy-saving block and invisible multiribbed frame composite wall (EBIMFCW) is an important shear wall, which is composed of energy-saving blocks, steel bars and concrete. This paper conducted seismic performance tests on six 1/2-scale EBIMFCW specimens, analyzed their failure process under horizontal reciprocating load, and studied the effect of axial compression ratio on the wall's hysteresis curve and skeleton curve, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation, bearing capacity degradation. A formula for calculating the peak bearing capacity of such walls was proposed. Results showed that the EBIMFCW had experienced a long time deformation from cracking to failure and exhibited signs of failure. The three seismic fortification lines of the energy-saving block, internal multiribbed frame, and outer multiribbed frame sequentially played important roles. With the increase in axial compression ratio, the peak bearing capacity and ductility of the wall increased, whereas the initial stiffness decreased. The change in axial compression ratio had a small effect on the energy dissipation capacity of the wall. In the early stage of loading, the influence of axial compression ratio on wall stiffness and strength degradation was unremarkable. In the later stage of loading, the stiffness and strength degradation of walls with high axial compression ratio were low. The displacement ductility coefficients of the wall under vertical pressure were more than 3.0 indicating that this wall type has good deformation ability. The limit values of elastic displacement angle under weak earthquake and elastic-plastic displacement angle under strong earthquake of the EBIMFCW were1/800 and 1/80, respectively.